US General Visits Airstrike Site in Northern Afghanistan
By VOA News
05 September 2009
The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is inspecting the site of a recent airstrike in Kunduz province that local officials say killed civilians.
U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal Saturday visited the area in northern Afghanistan where a day earlier a U.S. jet dropped bombs that blew up two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban.
The massive blast killed up to 90 people. It is unclear how many were civilians. NATO has launched a formal investigation into the incident.
In an address on Afghan TV, General McChrystal promised to make the results of the investigation public.
German military commanders ordered the strike in Kunduz because they feared the fuel trucks could be used as a weapon in a suicide attack. In the same province Saturday, a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy of German troops, damaging vehicles.
Provincial officials say the strike killed 56 Taliban militants and a large number of civilians, including children who had been called to the area by the Taliban members to remove fuel from the tankers.
An Interior Ministry spokesman, Zemarai Bashary, said the government is working to confirm civilian casualties.
General McChrystal ordered U.S. and NATO troops in July to limit the use of air strikes to try to reduce such casualties.
Several European Union foreign ministers, meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday, condemned the operation.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called the air strike a "big mistake."
EU foreign ministers also discussed ways to improve the delivery of aid to Afghanistan, focusing on efforts to combat corruption.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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